Bulletin of RSMU

ISSN Print 2500–1094 ISSN Online 2542–1204

Bulletin of RSMU

BIOMEDICAL JOURNAL OF PIROGOV UNIVERSITY (MOSCOW, RUSSIA)

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Kharlamov VG, Kulakov VN, Lipengolts AA, Shimanovskii NL

To improve the safety of Gd3<sup>+</sup>-based contrast agents (GBCA) in clinical practice, it is recommended to use the most stable substances and to consider conditions determining their stability. The aim of this study was to compare the stability of GBCAs for magnetic resonance imaging in the presence of zinc and calcium ions and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in water, phosphate buffer solution and blood serum using proton NMR relaxometry. The study demonstrated that macrocyclic gadobutrol is more stable than all linear contrast agents. The addition of PVP (10 mg/ml) improved the stability of linear GBCAs in phosphate buffer solution and blood serum. Calcium ions have a much weaker destabilizing effect on GBCAs than zinc ions.

Received: 2015-09-29

Published online: 2017-01-05

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2016-01-12

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VIEWS 4675

Frolova OP, Schukina IV, Novoselova OA, Stakhanov VA, Kazennyi AB

Despite various anti-tuberculosis measures in the setting of HIV infection, the epidemiological situation of tuberculosis in Russia is deteriorating. We have analyzed the data of statistical report form no. 61 for years 2004–2014, surveillance data on individual TB cases with HIV coinfection for years 2004–2014 (personal data) and TB care arrangements for patients with HIV in 20 regions. The main causes of the deteriorating epidemiological situation are the growing immunodeficiency in patients with TB coinfection, unseparated epidemiologically dangerous patient flows (patients with tuberculosis and HIV-infected patients) and low quality preventative measures in special care medical facilities. Chemoprophylaxis can be an effective method of controlling the spread of tuberculosis among HIV-infected patients if it is recommended by a qualified tuberculosis therapist to patients adhering to regular drug intake under supervision of medical personnel. Otherwise a large scale chemoprophylaxis can result in an increased proportion of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis. This works suggests criteria for the evaluation of tuberculosis care effectiveness considering the pathogenesis of the disease during late stages of HIV.

Received: 2015-12-06

Published online: 2017-01-05

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2016-01-13

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VIEWS 4758

Aniskevich AS, Halfin RA, Tatarinova LV

The article reviews basic methods of performance assessment of scientific medical organizations in Russia. Qualitative and quantitative effectiveness criteria are provided. International practices are described; a comparative analysis of assessment methods used in Russia and abroad is carried out. Global trends in the development of approaches to analyzing the effectiveness of scientific organizations are reviewed. Based on our analysis, a compelling rationale for developing more up-to-date criteria for evaluating the performance of scientific medical organizations is given.

Received: 2016-02-20

Published online: 2017-01-05

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2016-01-14

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VIEWS 4968

Levitskaya OS, Lebedev MA

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are a promising technology intended for the treatment of diseases and trauma of the nervous system. BCIs establish a direct connection between the brain areas that remain functional and assistive devices, such as powered prostheses and orthoses for the arms and legs, motorized wheelchairs, artificial sensory organs and other technologies for restoration of motor and sensory functions. BCIs of various kinds are currently developing very rapidly, aided by the progress in computer science, robotic applications, neurophysiological techniques for recording brain activity and mathematical methods for decoding neural information. BCIs are often classified as motor BCIs (the ones that reproduce movements), sensory BCIs (the ones that evoke sensations), sensorimotor BCIs (the ones that simultaneously handle motor and sensory functions), and cognitive BCIs intended to regulate the higher brain functions. All these BCI classes can be either invasive (i. e. penetrating the body and/or the brain) or noninvasive (i.e. making no o little contact with the body surface). Noninvasive BCI are safe to use and easy to implement, but they suffer from signal attenuation by scalp and skin, its contamination with noise and artifacts, and an overall low information transfer rate. Invasive BCIs are potentially more powerful because they utilize implanted grids that can both record neural signals in high-resolution and apply stimulation to the nervous tissue locally to deliver information back to the brain. BCI technologies are being developed not only for individual use, but also for collective tasks performed by multiple interconnected brains.

Received: 2016-03-11

Published online: 2017-01-05

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2016-02-01

Comments 0

VIEWS 5551

The article presents preliminary results of iMove research study. By the time of this publication, the data of 47 patients have been processed. The patients in the experimental group (n = 36) were trained in kinesthetic motor imagery using brain-computer interface (BCI) and a controllable exoskeleton. In the control group, BCI imitation procedures were carried out. In average, the patients had 9 training sessions with a duration of up to 40 minutes. On completing the training, only the experimental group showed improvement in scores (results are presented as median and quartiles (25 %; 75 %)): grasp score increased from 0.5 (0.0; 13.0) to 3.0 (0.0; 15.5) points (р = 0.003) and pinch score increased from 0.5 (0.0; 7.5) to 1.0 (0.0; 12.0) points (р = 0.005) on ARAT scale. In the experimental group, a significant improvement in motor function was found in 33.3 % patients on ARAT scale, and in 30.5 % patients on Fugl-Meyer scale. In the control group, those scores were lower: 9.1 % and 18.2 % patients, respectively.

Received: 2016-03-30

Published online: 2017-01-05

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2016-02-02

Comments 0

VIEWS 5571

Kaplan AYa, Zhigulskaya DD, Kiriyanov DA

In this work we have tested the assumption that an individual can control a target finger of a phantom by voluntarily focusing his attention on the luminous marker located on that finger in the complex of a P300 wave–based brain-computer interface (P300 BCI) and an anthropomorphic phantom. Because each correct movement of phantom fingers indicates a sufficient mental effort aimed at this action, creating a new ideomotor training simulator of smaller movements of the hand becomes possible. Our study included 21 volunteer subjects of both sexes aged 18–25. It was shown that with P300 BCI complex the subjects learned to control phantom fingers on the first day of the experiment, the percentage of successful attempts being no less than 69 %. Failures were mainly related to the insufficient attention focus on luminous markers on the target phantom fingers. We hypothesize that P300 BCI — Hand Phantom complex can be a basis for developing a fine motor skills simulator.

Received: 2016-04-11

Published online: 2017-01-05

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2016-02-03

Comments 0

VIEWS 5053

Bogdanov EA, Petrov VA, Botman SA, Sapunov VV, Stupin VA, Silina EV, Sinelnikova TG, Patrushev MV, Shusharina NN

Concurrent use of electrophysiological signals of various types, such as obtained from electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyogram (EMG), electrooculogram (EOG), and others, increases the effectiveness of systems for external device control, namely, neural prostheses, exoskeletons, robotic wheelchairs and teleoperated robots. This article presents the results of the first tests of a multifunctional neurodevice capable of detecting EEG, EMG and EOG signals simultaneously (with EOG signals photoplethysmogram, SpO<sub>2</sub> and temperature modules of the neurodevice were used). Measurement results were then compared to the data obtained from KARDi3 device (Medical Computer Systems, Russia) and Fluke 17b multimeter with a plug-in thermistor (Fluke Corporation, USA). The informative value and accuracy of both datasets were comparable. We also studied the effectiveness of EEG and EMG signal hybridization on the basis of the neurodevice of interest; it allowed for an increase of classification accuracy in all subjects by an average of 12.5 % up to the mean of 86.8 % (from 75 to 97 %).

Received: 2016-03-31

Published online: 2017-01-05

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2016-02-04

Comments 0

VIEWS 5100

Stepanichev MYu, Ivanov AD, Lazareva NA, Moiseeva YuV, Gulyaeva NV

β-amyloid peptide (Аβ) is an important component of the neurodegeneration mechanism in Alzheimer’s disease. This work investigates the effect of intrahippocampal injection of Аβ(25–35) fragment on nerve growth factor (NGF) signalling. Aggregated Аβ(25–35) was injected into rat dorsal hippocampus. Rats in the control group received injections of the peptide with an inverted amino acid sequence and a solvent. It was shown that Аβ(25–35) induces neuron death in rat hippocampus. Neurodegeneration was accompanied by a statistically significant increase (p < 0.05) in p75NTR neurotrophin receptor expression in all animals who had received exogenous peptides, and by an increased level of NGF in the hippocampus of those rats who had been injected with Аβ(25–35). The study results demonstrate that changes in the hippocampus induced by Аβ(25–35) are accompanied by increased NGF signalling, which, to some extent, supports the current clinical data obtained from patients with Alzheimer’s. The changes mentioned above are compensatory. However, both damage reparation and further degenerative processes can be the ultimate outcome.

Received: 2016-02-14

Published online: 2017-01-05

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2016-01-02

Comments 0

VIEWS 4770